{"id":52510,"date":"2022-10-21T15:17:20","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T15:17:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/?p=52510"},"modified":"2022-10-21T15:25:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T15:25:52","slug":"top-polluters-party-spoiled-by-projection-on-nearby-stadium-fossil-fuels-kill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/press\/52510\/top-polluters-party-spoiled-by-projection-on-nearby-stadium-fossil-fuels-kill\/","title":{"rendered":"Top polluters\u2019 party spoiled by projection on nearby stadium: \u201cFossil fuels kill\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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PROTECT THE CONGO RAINFOREST<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

Cape Town, 19 October \u2013 Tonight\u2019s gala dinner for fossil fuel industry chiefs and petroleum ministers participating in the Africa Energy Week<\/a> in Cape Town was interrupted by bright projections on the overlooking Cape Town Stadium: \u201cFossil fuels kill\u201d and \u201cThe future is renewable.” It is part of Greenpeace Africa\u2019s protest against a new scramble for Africa\u2019s oil and gas, an industry responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths<\/a> on the continent every year.<\/p>\n\n

“Government ministers and Big Oil executives cannot hide with cocktails and appetizers while Africa is burning. New investments in fossil fuels means divestment from the people of Africa<\/a>, the destruction of peatlands and protected areas<\/a> in the Congo rainforest and of fishing and drinking resources from East Africa<\/a> to Senegal<\/a>. We demand a better future and that future can only be renewable,\u201d said Irene Wabiwa, leader of the Greenpeace Africa campaign against oil and gas development in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).<\/p>\n\n

The Greenpeace Africa projection could easily be seen by the attendees of the gala dinner that concludes a week long event sponsored by and promoting the fossil fuel industry, attended by petroleum ministers from across the continent, among them the DRC<\/a>, Namibia<\/a>, and Senegal<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

While almost one million Africans<\/a> live without electricity at all, fossil fuels are almost exclusively exported<\/a> from the continent to global north countries. The Africa Energy Week promotes a future of more pollution of air, soil and water reserves, land grabs, corruption and conflict – all well documented by products of the curse of oil.<\/p>\n\n

Greenepace Africa has produced volumes of research that point to the value of a just transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy. In South Africa, research shows greater investment and uptake in renewable energy could have averted load shedding [1]. Other research has shown that there are significant employment co-benefits to a just<\/a> transition<\/a>, while other research has shown the consequences of fossil fuel dependence until now in the form of extreme weather events<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n

The fossil fuel industry is also notorious for land grabbing and human rights abuses in Africa. A report<\/a> on the massive oil and gas auction in the DRC by Greenpeace Africa and its partners demonstrates the lack of any free, prior and informed consent by local communities to designate their lands for oil activity. <\/p>\n\n

\u201cTo escape the curse of oil, of widespread pollution and concentrated wealth among a few corrupt individuals and their overseas partners, we urge African governments to choose a rapid transition to clean, decentralized and renewable energy which would create many more jobs and end energy poverty across the continent. It would also demonstrate to the world that African countries can lead in their own path and not replicate the mistakes of the old colonial regimes,\u201d concluded Irene Wabiwa.<\/p>\n\n

For interviews and more information:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Greenpeace Africa Press Desk: pressdesk.africa@greenpeace.org <\/p>\n\n

Chris Vlavianos, <\/strong>
Greenpeace Africa Communications Officer,
+27-79 883 7036, cvlavian@greenpeace.org <\/p>\n\n

Tal Harris, <\/strong>
International Communications Coordinator, +221-78 5366270<\/p>\n\n

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PROTECT THE CONGO RAINFOREST<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tonight\u2019s gala dinner for fossil fuel industry chiefs and petroleum ministers participating in the Africa Energy Week in Cape Town was interrupted by bright projections on the overlooking Cape Town Stadium: \u201cFossil fuels kill\u201d and \u201cThe future is renewable.” <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":52525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,34],"tags":[7,26,40,65],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-52510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-changemycommunity","category-inspirethemovement","tag-coal","tag-energy","tag-conservation","tag-southafrica","p4-page-type-press"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52510","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52510"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52510\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52529,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52510\/revisions\/52529"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52510"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/africa\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=52510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}